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Former NJ governor claims 'no knowledge' of glitch that let noncitizens vote
By
Mike Hayes
Published Jul 24, 2026
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Governor's office
By
Mike Hayes
Published Jul 24, 2026
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Former New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy was unaware of the software error that occurred under his watch and led about 6,600 noncitizens to be registered to vote in New Jersey, with 400 of those people casting ballots, a spokesperson for Murphy told Gothamist on Friday.
“Prior to Tuesday, Gov. Murphy had no knowledge of any software glitch at the Motor Vehicle Commission that resulted in noncitizens being inadvertently added to New Jersey’s voter rolls. He applauds Gov. [Mikie] Sherrill for initiating a review and looks forward to the findings,” Murphy spokesperson Mahen Gunaratna said in a written statement.
Sherrill, a fellow Democrat, blasted the Murphy administration for the erroneous voting activity during a stunning Tuesday press conference earlier this week. She said the issue occurred between June 2023 and June 2024, during Murphy’s second term. She said that she did not learn about the issue until July 15 and that it was resolved in June 2024.
Sherrill signed off on an independent investigation, and vowed it would get to the bottom of what happened.
“This entire situation is unacceptable,” Sherrill said. “It's unacceptable that the vendor released software with such a glaring error. It's unacceptable that the MVC took a year to get this issue fixed, and it's unacceptable that no one in the previous administration brought this to light, demanded accountability or took action when it happened years ago.”
Sean Higgins, spokesperson for Sherrill, said on Friday that the administration had nothing to add beyond what the governor has already said on this issue.
Sherrill said the registrations were the result of an error with the software used by the state’s Motor Vehicle Commission system that registers residents to vote when they apply for driver's licenses and ID cards. During a one-year time period, roughly 6,600 applicants indicated “no” on keypads at MVC offices when asked if they were American citizens, but the software registered them to vote anyway, Sherrill said.
In 2018, Murphy, who was governor at the time, signed a law allowing New Jerseyans to register to vote automatically when they get a driver’s license or ID card.
Senate Democrats and the office of Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, a Democrat, declined to comment on the Murphy camp’s claim he was unaware of the situation at the time.
Republicans have seized on this issue. GOP members of the state Legislature have called for an independent investigation by the U.S. attorney general, separate from the independent investigation that is being handled by the law firm Chiesa Shahinian & Giantomasi PC. After Sherrill's win in the 2025 governor’s race, three attorneys from the firm worked on her transition team. Founding partner Frank J. Giantomasi also worked on Murphy’s transition team in 2017.
Republicans also claim they have found evidence of illegal voting activity prior to the one-year period that Sherrill discussed Tuesday. GOP lawmakers say they intend to introduce new legislation that would outlaw automatic voter registration at the Motor Vehicle Commission.
State Sen. Kristin Corrado, the ranking Republican on the judiciary committee, told Gothamist earlier this week that her office is working on the new legislation. She said Murphy’s response is "further proof that we need an independent, transparent investigation.”
“The central question is simple: Who knew about this problem, and when did they know it? If everyone now claims they were unaware of this so-called 'glitch,' that only raises more troubling questions,” she said. “And if this problem went unnoticed for so long, we have to ask how many other ‘glitches’ may be lurking within this administration. This appears to be just the tip of the iceberg.”
Corrado and other Republicans have called for the Legislature to form a select committee with subpoena powers to investigate what happened and who knew about it.
“Simply pointing fingers and saying, ‘it wasn’t me’ is not good enough,” she said.
State Sen. Declan O’Scanlon, a Republican, said while he hasn’t seen anyone "accusing [Murphy] of direct knowledge” about the software issues, “the sin” was that his administration established a faulty system at the commission.
“They set up a system that was deeply flawed, that numerous people called out as deeply flawed. That's out there, and they chose to not deal with it,” he said.
Michael Sol Warren contributed reporting.
Tagged
Politics
election
new jersey
Mike Hayes
Mike Hayes covers equity and access to opportunity in New Jersey. He joined WNYC and Gothamist in 2023. Before that, he worked as a freelance journalist writing about policing and criminal justice. He has written for ProPublica, CNN, HuffPost, BuzzFeed News and The Appeal. He is also the author of the book, “The Secret Files: Bill De Blasio, The NYPD, and the Broken Promises of Police Reform.” In 2019, he was a finalist for the Livingston Award for Young Journalists.
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